14 
WARES LATERAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
KAMCHATKA OFFICIALS VERSUS ZOOLOG- 
ICAL COLLECTORS. 
Lively and stirring, almost tragical accounts 
come to us from our collector in Japan, — an 
Englishman named Snow. Mr. Snow had left 
Yokohama in May, on board the schooner 
“ Otome,” bound for the Kurile Islands and the 
coast of Kamchatka, for a season’s hunt after 
Sea Otters and Fur Seals. Besides three of the 
former highly valuable and expensive skins, he 
was charged to obtain for us — as he had done on 
a previous trip — skeletons and skins dry, and 
embryos preserved in alcohol, of all the seals and 
other pinnipeds which there abound. Also bears 
( Ursus Japonicus), walruses, embryo cetaceans, 
and many other interesting mammals, with such 
rare birds as the Spectacled Eider, Steller’s Duck, 
etc., etc. 
At the outset of the voyage all went well, only 
to change later to very bad. But we will let Mr. 
Snow tell the story: 
“ During the forenoon of the 5th of May we 
passed Kanonsaki and had a rather long but fine 
passage up to the islands, having a narrow escape 
among the rocks off the east coast of Yesso dur- 
ing a fresh breeze and thick fog. Arrived off Itur- 
up on 17th, and next day commenced hunting. 
We were pff this island three days and killed 
but one otter. On the night of the 20th we left 
Iturup. When we sailed past the volcano at the 
uorth-east end of the island it was in violent 
eruption, sending up clouds of smoke and ashes 
accompanied by loud explosions which we could 
hear at a distance of forty-five miles. 
On 18tli July, at Paramushir, we were in com- 
with the following vessels: Penelope, 15 otters 
and 80 seals; Felix, 20 otters; Adele, 11 otters; 
Diana, 12 otters; we having 16. The Diana 
people were trying out the blubber of a whale 
which they had found floating in the straits, 
dead. On the south end of Paramushir we fell 
in with the natives who used to inhabit Ushishu 
and neighboring islands, their last dwelling 
place being Shaishkotan. (Some of them came 
on board and told us a Japanese schooner, the 
Kaitatsu-maru, had called in at Shiashkotan in 
June, made them drunk, stole the few skins they 
had, and ordered them away from the island. 
These poor Ainu, being terribly scared of the 
Japanese, had left in a hurry, making their way 
in boats up to the islands, intending to get as far 
as Sirushir or Kamchatka. On Paramushir we 
killed a large bear. These animals are very 
plentiful, and are of the same species as those 
found on Kamchatka. Up to this time the sea- 
son had been the finest I had ever experienced 
on the Kuriles. We certainly did not have more 
than eight or nine days fog a month. Leaving 
the islands we coasted along Kamchatka, filling 
up with fire wood and water in Kamchatka Bay, 
killing two more bears where we got water. 
One of these fellows caused a little fun; being 
wounded by a shot, he took up the sides of the 
clifT and into cover, followed by a hunter and 
some seven or eight of the Japanese crew. The 
bear had stopped after going a yard or two into 
the undergrowth, and the whole lot blundered 
almost on to the top of him before he was dis- 
covered. Bruno stood up on his hind legs in the 
midst of the crowd, and a general stampede, of 
course, took place; some of the Japanese throw- 
ing themselves headlong down the sides of the 
bluff, but no one got hurt. A shot through the 
neck laid Mr. Bear out, ‘and the subsequent 
proceedings interested him no more.’ The skins 
at this time of year are very poor, but the flesh 
is excellent, these animals feeding on grasses and 
roots till the fish commence to run up the rivers. 
After feeding on fish for a time the meat becomes 
very rank. Whilst here we saw some walrus but 
did not hunt them. 
Leaving the Kamchatka coast we sailed to the 
eastward, looking for a small island said to exist 
to the south of the Commodore Islands, and not 
in the charts, and found ourselves off Behring 
Island. 
Prospecting around here we discovered seals 
at a rookery on the north shore. On the after- 
noon of the 12th August lowered boats and 
pulled to the north-east, where about three miles 
from the vessel found some seals hauled out on 
some off-lying rocks and the beach; landed and 
killed some, and were about skinning them when 
some thirty or forty natives appeared, armed 
with rifles. The Japanese sailors left in a hurry, 
all getting into one boat and pulling back to the 
schooner, leaving the other two boats and three 
men on shore; one hunter got into the hands of 
the islanders, who took both him and the boats 
to their village. The other two men got on 
board in a boat sent from the schooner. Next 
morning the 8. S. Alexander, a vessel belonging 
to the Alaska Commercial Company, but flying 
the Russian flag, appeared in sight and bore 
down upon us. When the steamer got alongside 
two boats were lowered from her, the captain 
and an official of the island boarding us. They 
asked to see our papers, etc., and then set their 
boats’ crews to work to search the vessel. They 
found some half dozen or so of sea- lion pup 
and sealskins we had shot on the Kuriles; these 
they took possession of, as well as all our rifles, 
my shot gun, a harpoon spear and the ship’s 
papers, and last but not least, they took me. The 
large collection of skeletons which we had made for 
you , I am sorry to say , they threw all overboard. 
The action of the Alexander’s people was so 
unlooked for and took us so by surprise, that 
there was no chance to object to what they were 
doing, or they would not have had things quite 
so much their own way. The steamer was 
sighted when some miles off, but not thinking of 
any trouble, no attempt to get away was made 
or we could easily have done so, there being a 
fresh breeze at the time. 
In tire meantime the hunter taken by the 
natives on shore, and myself, were cared for on 
board the steamer. I cannot say but that I had 
very good times there, all hands and the cook 
being first rate fellows. We arrived in Petro- 
paulovski on the 18th August, I remaining on 
board the steamer at the invitation of the cap- 
tain, the hunter being accommodated on shore, 
the authorities kindly furnishing him with a 
Cossack guide when he walked out in the coun- 
try. I was allowed to go at large on giving my 
word to the official that I would not attempt to 
leave the port without permission. 
Petropaulovski contains some 850 to 400 in- 
habitants. The town consisting of about a hun- 
dred log houses ann a few clamp-boarded dwell- 
ings, stor-houses, church, etc., stands on the 
north side of the harbor. All the best buildings 
here have been erected by the Alaska Commer- 
cial Company, the church included, which was 
presented, I was informed by the company, to 
the clergy, they bestowing a blessing on the 
donors, of course. There is but one store of any 
pretention in the town, where something of 
everything can be obtained. The proprietors 
also trade in furs. I saw lots of sturdy looking 
ponies, and cattle are fairly plentiful; good beef, 
milk and butter are to be bad. The natives, I 
understand, are allowed to take up and cultivate 
as much land as they like; many of the houses 
stand in gardens devoted chiefly to the raising of 
potatoes and turnips. Hay for the winter food 
of the cattle is cut in a large valley some two or 
three miles to the north of the town ; haymaking 
had commenced when we left. Berries are plen- 
tiful on the hills, several kinds are delicious and 
make excellent preserves. Fish, particularly 
salmon, herring, cod, flounders and other kinds 
of fish were caught alongside the vessel as we 
lay at the wharf. The country around is rich in 
fur-bearing animals. A few sea otters are caught 
on the south coast; white bears and wolves are 
found in the northern parts, while brown bears, 
wolves, foxes, sable, ermine, land otter, reindeer, 
deer, mountain sheep, etc., are found pretty well 
all over the peninsulaof Kamchatka; copper and 
coal exist and gold has been found, in several 
localities, but has not been worked, they say, 
owing to its being too far away from the settle- 
ments. 
The natives of Petropaulovski appear to be a 
good natured lot of people, taking life very easily 
and being in common with all the inhabitants of 
these parts, wonderfully fond of vodki. 
The late governor and the doctor left Petro- 
paulovski by the Yladivostock, and a ball was 
given on the occasion of their departure, to which 
all the village was invited. The police station 
being the most suitable place, the ball was held 
there. Everyone attended in gala attire, several 
of the men sporting swallow tails and white 
chokers. Dancing was kept up till well into the 
small hours, to the accompaniment of a fiddle 
and accordeon, which just managed to squeak 
out a few notes for the dancers to keep time to. 
The votaries of the Terpsichorean art were 
about as graceful in their movements as young 
elephants, nevertheless it could be seen they were 
heartily enjoying themselves. What the dances 
were supposed to be, I could not say, but it 
appeared as if each one danced what he liked, a 
cross between a polka and a highland schottisehe 
being the favorite. Eating, drinking and smok- 
ing filled up the interval between dances. Yodki 
flowed freely, and several fine specimens of 
Kamchatdales were found next morning lying 
around, preserved in alcohol. The drinking was 
not confined to the men, the ladies taking their 
share, and one or two youngsters of not more 
than twelve or thirteen, were helplessly drunk. 
I believe in many parts of Russia the natives 
are celebrated for their economical use of water, 
both inwardly and outwardly. I have heard 
that a tea cup or oyster shell is the usual thing 
in which many of the Czar’s subjects take their 
morning baths. These, however, have to take a 
back seat compared with some of the Petropaul- 
ovskians. Of course the steam bath is an iusti- 
sution here as in other parts of Russia, and all 
indulge in it more or less; but the everyday 
ablutions of a great many of the natives here 
are performed in this way: A quantity of water 
taken into the mouth, the hollows of both hands 
held before the face, the water ejected into them 
and rubbed over the parts to be washed. This 
is doubly economical, as it does away with the 
necessity of a wash bowl, and also warms the 
water without the expenditure of fuel.” 
We should condole with our friend Snow on 
his unfortunate situation, did not his merry mood 
show that he has philosophy sufficient for the 
emergency. We expect ere long to hear from 
him that he has escaped, schooner and all, from 
the paws of the Russian bear, var. Kamchat- 
kiensis. 
Mr. Snow, since his return to Japan, after a 
visit to our Rochester Establishment two years 
ago, has sent us many nice and rare specimens. 
Among these nothing is nicer or rarer than the 
fine Sea Otter, which Mr. Critchley has stuffed, 
and whose picture (we mean the Otter’s) we here 
append. 
Johnnie’s Diagram of a Monkey. 
A monky is a blame funny insek — he begins 
lookin’ like people, but he runs the other en’ too 
far out to remine you of his bein’ twins. Youkant 
tell how mennyfeets he has cause he ain’t made up 
his mind yet whether his front feets is hans or 
feets, an’ he uses em both waze. When he smiles 
his feechers work hard enuff to pan out sumthin’ 
ginowine, but the reel flavor don’t seem to be 
fetched out. Monky’s hangs onto a tree just like 
a grapevine, but theys more meat to ’em. Mon- 
ky’s don’t dress enuff, ter suit mos fokes, an’ 
besides thare close is made of such thin stuff that 
it wares off wen tha sit down . — Rome Sentinel. 
